2016 South Carolina Republican Primary Results – Open Thread

Republicans will turn their attention down south today for the South Carolina Republican Primary. Voting will begin at 7am ET and last until 7pm ET. We should expect results to start coming in shortly after the polls close by around 8pm ET. Donald Trump has dominated the polls for the past two weeks following his win in New Hampshire, however, the race has tightened some in the last 24 hours, especially the battle for the 2nd and 3rd place spots.

Polls now closed in South Carolina, anyone still in line should get to vote. We should see the first numbers start coming in around 7:30pm ET. Keep an eye on the DecisionDeskHQ South Carolina results for the earliest returns.

Update 1 – 3:23pm ET

CNN reports that exit polls will be released at 5pm ET which might start to give us an indication of where tonight is headed. Stay tuned for another update around that time.

Original Story

Polls continue to indicate that Donald Trump is sitting well in the South Carolina Republican primary, though the race appears to have tightened in recent days. Report from Politico:

A new poll out one day before Saturday’s South Carolina primary shows Donald Trump maintaining a wide lead in the state and with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in a fight for second place.

In the poll, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, Trump leads with 32 percent, followed by Cruz at 19 percent and Rubio at 18 percent.

The results are disappointing for Jeb Bush, who is banking on a strong performance in the state but comes in with just 8 percent. He is just ahead of John Kasich, who has 7 percent.

If Rubio finishes in 2nd place, assuming Trump wins the top spot, then Ted Cruz is in a very difficult position moving forward. Much of his plan hedges on winning southern states as a means to pile up delegates ahead of the later contests in mid-March. If Cruz stumbles in South Carolina, it will open the door to a Rubio resurgence ahead of Super Tuesday on March 1st.

Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.

I am always surprised when I meet anyone actually voting for Cruz or Rubio. You must really believe the snake oil they are selling works! They are both part of the problem, as both of them have done nothing it their time serving in the Senate. If you believe in our constitution, they are both ineligible to serve as president, but hell, Obama got away with it, right? Cruz particularly is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Just look at the dirty tactics he is using to squeeze out votes! He is a proven liar with his finances in this campaign and has adopted Trumps policies every time Trump has come out with something new. First everyone ridicules Trumps ideas, then the next thing you know, it is their position! We need a creative common sense leader, not a follower like Cruz. Rubio is a young pup, he is broke in his personal life and uses his congressional credit card like his own personal payday loan service. He is just not ready to lead a country.

So true! The snake Cruz spent months imitating Trump – after Trump had fought the media regarding his policies. Cruz started talking about building a wall after Trump had fought that battle, taking the heat. And then Cruz starts saying that Trump is a leftist. Amazing. And his lying letter to intimidate Iowa voters, saying they were “in violation” of voting law. And then the lie by his operatives in the caucuses, saying that Ben Carson had dropped out and people should vote for Cruz. Knowing Cruz was many Carson voters’ second choice. In the few places where his operatives refused orders and did not deliver the lie, Cruz’ vote was far lower than Trump’s. That came back to bite him, causing him to lose evangelicals big time to Trump in South Carolina, after they had learned what he did to get their votes in Iowa.

Cruz also hid his loan from Goldman Sachs, which financed his senate run. When found out recently he claimed that he did inform congress about it. False – he filled out papers for a personal loan from Goldman Sachs, another lie. It was a campaign loan, but he did not fill out those papers as those are the documents reporters would search, as he well knew.

Funnily, his wife got a job in top management in Goldman Sachs NINE DAYS after Cruz entered the Senate. Showing he was now their boy. She is also in the Council of Foreign Relations, a globalist outfit that argues for erasing North American borders through NAFTA. And now Cruz presents himself as anti-immigration. Amazing.

Cruz claims he “led the charge” in opposing the Gang of Eight bill. False. As Senator Sessions has noted, Cruz was a Johnny-come-lately who only joined the opposition when Sessions and others had laid the groundwork. Cruz also claims his proposed amendment to the Go8 bill would have killed amnesty. False, the amendment would not have done that at all. This is a blatant lie.

He attacks Trump for supporting eminent domain, showing how deep he has to dig. ALL politicians support eminent domain. Jeb! Bush, who pretended to be appalled, knows that his family used eminent domain for private purposes, to build a mansion. As only Trump dares say openly you have to have eminent domain for the government to build roads, etc. The GOPers support the Keystone pipeline, and as Trump notes it wouldn’t get ten feet without eminent domain. You have to use ED sometimes, sparingly and with good compensation, but it has to be used and that’s the same all over the world. Cruz supports the Keystone pipeline and knows this. But he’s a liar.

He claims Trump supported Obama. Trump was very strongly against Obama and donated to McCain and Romney, and spoke out against Obama often. Cruz’ campaigners have spread a false tweet to show Trump congratulating Obama – with the wrong font for Twitter. And the screen shot shows the tweet buttons you only see if you were the one who wrote the tweet before taking the screen shot.

Trump has been a Republican since the 1980s. He was a VIP guest at the GOP convention 1988, and he supported Bush/Quayle. Reagan (who Cruz now claims is his idol) became a Republican at age 51, Trump became a Republican at age 41. And when he was a Democrat in his younger days it was a pro-worker Democrat, not one of the SJW Democrats we see today.

The only “Democrat” thing Trump has done is donate a few thousand dollars, a symbolic sum, to Democrat campaigns in New York – while also donating to Republicans. This is what corporations and big businessmen do. Trump is in big construction, a highly politicized business and especially in New York City, so he has to do the same as the rest. But it’s small sums for each politician. While it was bigger sums for McCain and Romney to defeat Obama. Cruz, meanwhile, took money from Goldman Sachs, a New York bank that heavily supported Obama, and that has its operatives in high places in the Obama administration. And this East Coast corporate lawyer, financed by GS, who only attached himself to the Tea Party to get Palin’s endorsement and a ride to the Senate when others had built up the Tea Party before he came, dares accuse Trump of having “New York values”. He is a snake.

If Marco didn’t have the backing of the TC he would have folded long ago. His job is to suck votes from Trump as an alternative to Cruz when in fact he supports Cruz in the long run. A few delegates here and there gives Cruz the appearance he is the answer to Americas problems.

Dr Drobb is the kind of dip stick that will deliver a Muslim army to your doorstep. He would use “facts” made up and twisted by media to defame Trump so he can keep his foot on our throats. Just goes to prove, anyone can spew what they call facts online, shame on the Dr for spreading them as truth. Your self righteous misrepresentation of our next president is going to send you right to hell! Remember, judge, and you will be judged?

Dr Drobb wants mass immigration of Democrat voters, like Cruz does. Cruz campaigns together with the clown Glenn Beck, who in recent months very strongly has supported illegal aliens, saying he is “ready to go to jail” (sure) for bringing in illegal aliens from Syria. Glenn Beck is paid to campaign for Cruz by hedge-fund manager Robert Mercer, who funds Cruz’ super PACs. Together they went to the southern border last summer to welcome tens of thousands of illegal aliens, called “children” even though almost all were men in their twenties or teenagers.

Just like the “refugees” flooding Europe now from northern Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, pretending to be Syrians. And those who do come from Syria are very often Islamist rebels who sell their weapons and leave now that they are being pressured in the battlefield. You can see pictures of them in Facebook, in uniform posing with guns and knives, then pretending to be “seventeen years old” and so on when coming to Germany and Sweden. Every three days they rape another woman in Germany, and the cities are overwhelmed with all the other crimes. So that the police don’t even try to solve “lesser” crimes like theft anymore. That’s what Cruz’ buddy Glenn Beck wants to bring to the U.S. The Cuban Cruz will keep the border open for Mexicans. Just like his wife wants, working for the globalists in Goldman Sachs, and for the Council of Foreign Relations that argues for an open border to Mexico.

I understand that we are sick and tired of Obama, but Donald is not the answer. If you really look at what he’s saying he’ll do (like keeping a company from moving to Mexico), there’s no authority whatsoever to accomplish this. His 2011 comments should exclude him for most people. Total lie. I get it- he’s angry like we are, but the similarities stop there. The man is “all about me”. Paranoid. Selfish. Rude. Mean. Dishonest…

We don’t want a winner (and there’s no way he’ll beat sanders or Clinton). We want someone who can run this country, heal our foreign relations, and start reducing government size so the economy can come back.

I suppose you’d rather have a loser instead of a winner? WOW, what a dumb statement you made! Get out of your comfort zone and think for yourself for a change, it’s the establishment politicians who got us into this mess along with the voters who are too timid to challenge them. That is why we never had anyone running before but the establishment politicians, they knew everyone was in their pockets, bought off by false promises that never materialized.

It finally took our country being brought to the brink of destruction get a candidate to run that can and will fix it. Get on board because the best way to keep from getting ran over by a freight train is to make sure you are riding on it!

Since he is a Trilateral Commission backed puppet he will not do as you suggest. Oh yes he will talk a great show but in reality he will ready everything the Obama leaves undone for the North American Union. Which means a whole new governmental system and society. You are getting a taste of it now with all the PC bs. That’s just the beginning. How about the move of many police depts. toward a police state. Think that is an accident? Not a Chance. The SPLC gives Fusion Centers their marching orders and they train the cops. Why is it you believe all the lies for cruz yet he accomplishes Nothing.
You have better be careful about what you wish for – you just might get it.
Look up Technocracy when you aren’t spreading nonsense and see if you can understand what that means to you and me and millions of lives in the future. Just try to realize what it means when the have machines doing everything for a limited few. Then combine that thought with the essence of Agenda 21. Are you familiar with Agenda 21 which has now become Agenda 2030? Try to research that for more that ten minutes and you might get an idea of the importance of electing Trump vs Cruz.

Trump was a liberal before he ran. He’s given money to Clinton, Reid, pelosi, and schumer. He’s fooling conservatives by just repeating rhetoric and making himself seem tough. I’m half convinced Clinton paid trump to run so she would have someone she could win against.

He was a Moderate.. Not a Liberal… Get your Facts straight Sammy! So what if he did give $$$$ to them.. it’s his $$$ to do what he wants to do with. What he wants NOW is to make america great again.. He’s NOT a Liar Politician like your man CRUZ… and to say Clinton paid Trump? GMAB…..You’re just another political Hack that only cares about Conservatives and not about America! Trump followers care about making America Great again, and less about who is conservative or Liberal… We want #Military Strength….Build A Wall with Mexico.. Stop companys from moving overseas…. End Common Core…. Repel Obamacare and make Healthcare system Better! and Cheaper!… Destroy Isis….. Care about Isreal!.. .Erase the Deficit within 8 years…… and do Better Trades with countrys like China,Japan,Mexico,Korea and other markets. If anyone doesn’t want this..then you are NOT AMERICAN!

Funny, the only policy I know he definitely wants is the wall. He has said NOTHING about anything else. And he wants mexico to pay for his wall? They are in no position to do that. And where he puts his money is where he puts his support. He has supported almost every big government liberal in the establishment. He’s a phony. He’ll only worsen foreign relations with the UN and EU. No one can work with a guy who insults the people he doesn’t agree with.

Sam you need to educate yourself and actually see 1 of his rallys and Listen to what he wants. Thing is, you Won’t and you Won’t want to hear it cause you Don’t want to! If you said he has said nothing else but talked about a wall then you are blind and deaf!

Actually Mexico is in a position to pay for the wall. They could do so easily by simply surcharging the money sent to Mexico by the illegals here. Some 53 Billion a year. As to his ability to work in foreign lands with heads of state… he does that for a living now. Trump, because it is an absolute necessity hob nobbed and donated to everyone that took the money…so what ? Since when did letting people know how you feel and what you think become “insulting” to any but the dim witted ?

As to other policies… curb immigration from the Mid-East until vetting process is within the realm of reality.

Negotiating on with companies that want to send jobs elsewhere.. he is the master of the deal.

There are many many more… just go to his web site and read it….www.jebbush.com

Every time I hear can’t or won’t I have to laugh because there is always a way if you have an interest in doing anything.
This country wastes more darn money on crap that means nothing to anyone but a miniscule few. Yet we cannot build a wall? Israel and Saudi Arabia have done it and they don’t have our resources.

You say that’s the only policy he cares about? LOL, you need to get your head out of the sand and start paying attention. Going through life willfully deaf, dumb, and blind won’t take you very far Sam! Just go to his website and click the link to “Positions” and you will learn a thing or two.

‘Projection’: your favorite fall back word for when you cannot refute a statement with logic. I would tell you to work on your debate skills but you don’t have any to begin with. You can’t even form proper sentences so it should be no surprise you have such a limited vocabulary to compliment your myriad of mental handicaps

He was a businessman and wasn’t running for anything, and the last I heard, many other politicians were giving to many different people,, not in their Party. He can change from what he believed 20 years ago, just like others have. I changed about the same time to Repub. Now, i’m so angry, I may change to Independent. You get older and see things differently, and see what they are doing to our Country. Trump is the only one of the bunch that is not for a OWO. Open borders are for it, That is a fact…It would be wise to look up some of these other guys running. Look at Cruzs’ bill that he is working on about , “The No Fly List” This will rattle your cage.Just one of his deals. Also Rubio on the gang of Eight and how he treated the head of ICE. Shameful.

Reagan was a democrat before he was a Republican. He was a Union leader and all unions were aligned with the Democrats back then as they are now. Not that the Dems ever did them any good but the illusion was there.
Big Business give money to both sides it’s a fact of life for a business man. Right now business and mega banks who are part of the Trilateral Commission have given Cruz how many millions of dollars???? Goldman Sachs is like family with the Cruz bunch. Millions from them alone.
Now lets see who has contributed to Trump????????????? NOBODY IN THE BUSINESS WORLD OR BANKING COMMUNITY.
THAT IS WHY TRUMP IS THE GREAT THREAT TO THE GLOBALIST. HE WILL DO THE RIGHT THING FOR AMERICA not their bidding as TED CRUZ is bound to do.
Don’t believe it???? Look at Obama what has he done for any of us.

Gail, you have no idea what you’re talking about! He will help stop companys from moving to Mexico cause we will tax the product back to the U.S. more than what it will be them to move there! You don’t understand Business Gail!!! Then you say all those things that Trump is? You sound Paranoid,Selfish,Rude,Mean and Dishonest!! and 1 more thing… STUPID!

Sir, do you realixe what country we live in? This isn’t socialist France or illiberal Russia. This is America, where you can’t just outright stop a company from moving to Mexico. Like, there’s NO legal power of the President to do that. What’s Trump gonna do, tax them so much it’ll be unprofitable for them to move to Mexico? Um, socialist, much?

All his rhetoric sounds good now, but when you’re actually President, you have to use LAWS to do things. He won’t have big screaming crowds in the oval office or Congress if he gets elected. IF

Donald Trump has shown what he can do already, (make weasels squirm), and that isn’t all. He has had more success in his life than most people could have if they lived forever. He has helped more people than most of the very rich, and he never talks about it.So your descriptioni of him is not correct by any means.He has never cheated anyone, so get your facts straight, and please stop the hating. It will get you nowhere, and that’s a fact.

Gail, it is not about what he is going to do for himself, rather it is about what he is going to do for you, and fellow Americans. It is attitudes like you expressed that has made us the laughing stock of the world. With stupid ineffective foreign policy and a domestic policy that gives criminals and illegals more rights than its citizens, it is time for something new, don’t you think? Whats wrong with companies who profit from the US economy being required to make there stuff within our economy to keep our workers employed? We need a tough bright leader who can lock horns with the bullies in power around the world and strong arm corporate entities who milk our economy from outside our borders. That takes a brash, smart, sometimes rude, mean, in your face kind of guy, like Trump.
For a change we have an opportunity to get a different result by voting for an outsider who is smart enough to actually win this race!
Vote for real change, not just lip service, vote Trump!

So you believe that the past 40 years of Trilateralist Puppets know as president has given this country a boost? That there really isn’t a national debt at 20 Trillion dollars. That George Bush has nothing to do with that? That Obama is not the blame for the misuse of federal agencies created by Bush to protect us from who?
What is the definition of insanity? If you keep electing the same puppets do you expect anything to get better? 40 dam years and all we have done it sink to the depths both in terms of $$$ and morality. I guess that’s just coincidence huh?
There’s an old saying the goes like this – People can say anything. If you want to know who a person is judge by what he has done. Not by what he say he will do. There in lies the truth.
What has Trump ACCOMPLISHED IN HIS LIFE?
What has Cruz Accomplish in his life? The first Term Senator talks a great show but has done NOTHING for the American People.

Nice but Trump is not a former democrat, he is a CURRENT democrat or at the very least a progressive liberal. He is for government mandate on health care, he is for a single payer system, he has supported, given money to, and agreed with BIG GOVERNMENT politicians ALL HIS LIFE UNTIL THIS YEAR. You going to believe him now? I’ve got land to sell you. He doesn’t have a clue what conservatism is. He can’t articulate it, he can’t even articulate the immigration policy on his own website well. The only reason that’s a good policy and reads so well is because Jeff Session, (a brilliant conservative) wrote it for him! He couldn’t explain it to a crowd if he had to!!

And yet, FACTS ultimately rule. Cruz apologized to Carson for the assumptions that his campaign staff made, based upon speculations from CNN. Ted, himself, did not make that call. Now, go ahead with the proof that Ted cheated at any time. On top of that, he has been cordial and polite in his debates. Just look at the comments in this thread, and note who are making the aggresive and insulting statements, and who they support. It says a lot about the brainwashing effect, and how easily people can be manipulated. This is now, and has been, the problem in the last 2 general elections. Let us not encourage it this time around. Peace.

OK. Point number one:
When you cheat someone out of votes at the time of an election, it doesn’t make it right to say, “gee willikers, I’m sorry” afterward.
Point number two:
It wasn’t just a matter of SAYING that Carson was quitting. It was also in print.
Point number three:
It went beyond saying that Carson was quitting. Cruz LIED by saying Carson would be making a “major announcement” in the following week. That was fabricated 100%, and is a totally inexcusable lie.
Point number four:
The Cruz “apology” was also a lie. He claimed that it was CNN’s fault, which CNN even called a LIE. While it’s true that CNN announced that Carson was heading for Florida, CNN almost immediately clarified that Carson was not quitting. On the debate stage, Cruz CLAIMED that CNN didn’t announce that until hours later. Total fabrication. Prevarication. Lie.

Elsewhere, I documented the CNN statement–and also, the Carson statement that he was cheated. In addition, Karl Rove said that without this cheating, Cruz would NOT have “won” Iowa.

There have been numerous other Cruz cheats and lies, documented elsewhere here. If you like, I can repeat them.

The most important point is that while Cruz has been doing dirty tricks, lying, and cheating, there is apparently NO evidence that no other candidate has participated in such sleaze.

The voters were well into the process in Iowa, when CNN said that it was a “very unusual move” on Carson’s part, and then, the Cruz CAMPAIGN made their statements. Again, Cruz, himself, did not know that Carson was going to Florida for a “change of clothes” until much later. Cruz would have won Iowa anyway, due to the high evangelical and well-informed voter turnout. That fact is, this episode would be over, if Carson would be graceful enough to accept what happened, as well as Ted’s apology on behalf of his staff. As for CNN, I don’t recall hearing any admission of false speculation on their part, although they were the origin of this confusion. He is not polling well anyway, so he needs to drop out, and help to put an end to the divisiveness. He is in no way presidential material, and anyone with a critical eye and ear knows this. This is ALL about the future of America, and Ted is the only one with the knowledge, experience and intelligence to bring us back from the precipice. As it is clear that you, and many other Trump supporters have made up your minds, regardless of the facts, I have nothing further to add to this segment. Hopefully, the truth will win out, and the absolute best choices will be made for America. Thanks for the conversation, and reasonable debate. God bless you & yours…Michael

How can anyone actually believe TRUMP will deliver … He is playing to the “ears of fools” and knows it … Someone said he is running interference for Hillary , which actually makes more sense on his being in the race than any other …

Carson, Bush, Kasich need to just drop out of the race. They are not going anywhere but down in flames. I’m surprised that the P.O.S. rubio is doing as well as he is. I wish Ted Cruz would pull ahead of him. I’m glad to see Donald Trump doing so well!

I am trying to compile all of the results from both parties from one place and the link from the Primary schedule that has a results link comes here – but you have no results for the Democratic side – I have found severl incidents like this where results are not posted or not complete – Isn;t there two parties that voted in South Carolina? And didn;t Hilary win? I am compiling my own list of winners and delegate counts – What ;s up with that?